Organ matters - Organs matter!

Hi all,

Last year I had the opportunity to pull an organ out of a church that was about to be demolished. I'm making steady progress towards getting it rebuilt in my music room.
The original spec of the organ is this:
Great

• 8' Open Diapason
• 8' Dulciana
• 8' Clarabella
• 4' Octave (called a gemshorn, but built like a principal)

Swell

• 8' Violin Diapason
• 8' Rhor Flute
• 4' Flute
• 8' Oboe

Pedal

• 16' Bourdon
• 8' Bass Flute

I'm wanting people's opinions on what I'm planning on doing, which is:

• Add a independent twelfth and fifteenth, to build up the principal chorus and to use electromagic to make a mixture
• Add some proper strings to the swell, such as an 8' Viol and a celeste
• Some sort of 16' trumpet for the pedal, extended to 8' for use on the great
• Extension of one of the flutes up to 2' for the Swell
• Making 12 pipes to extend the 8' open diapason down to 16' in the pedals (fortunately I have the room for this)
  

Using the various options this pipework will give me, I'm hoping for a final specification of:
Great

• 8' Open Diapason (A)
• 8' Dulciana
• 8' Clarabella
• 4' Octave
• 2 2/3' Twelfth (B)
• 2' fifteenth (C)
• Mixture - from B & C
• 8' Trumpet

Swell

• 16' Bourdon - from D
• 8' Violin Diapason
• 8' Rhor Flute
• 8' Viol
• 8' Celeste
• 4' Flute (E)
• 2' Piccolo - from E
• Maybe some mutation from B
• 8' Oboe

Pedal

• 16' Open Diapason 13-30 from A
• 16' Bourdon (D)
• 8' Bass Flute
• 16' Trumpet/something

In the long run I want to rebuild some of the chests as they're a mix of EP sliders + offset tubular pneumatics, but finding enough cheap electromagnets is difficult.

One of NZ's premier pipe organs is the organ in the Wellington Town Hall.
The building itself is an earthquake risk, so is being restructured. The entire 50 ton instrument is being removed, restored, and stored until 2016, when it'll be re-installed.

Earthquakes have been a big problem in NZ the last few years. I'm glad that this work is being done.

More info: http://wellington.govt.nz/your-council/projects/town-hall-strengthening/town-hall-organ

I was lucky enough to spend some time at the console last year, and took some recordings, including a demonstration of the stops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7uhsOPbmbg and one of my favourite hymn tunes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8abtEE8RSXg

Hi all,

I recovered an old pipe organ from a church here in New Zealand that was getting scrapped. I've never heard it going, but I'm told that the Tuba was overbearingly loud for the church. That being the case, it most certainly won't be suitable for my home.

According to a scribble on the wind chest it was on approx 6" WP.
I have the wind chest available too, but given that I live in New Zealand, it might be a bit difficult and expensive to ship as well as the pipes. The chest is electro pneumatic at first glance. I may be wrong. It stood alone from the rest of the organ.
The resonators have a high lead percentage. They are very heavy. Bottom octave are mitred and point straight up, everything else points forward.
All pipes speak, and speak loudly.

I'm interested to see whether there is anyone here who might be interested in doing a deal for them.
My pipe organ wishlist includes:
- A stack of four matching manuals
- A quint mixture
- A not so loud 8' trumpet

Hi all,

I'm in the process of building an organ that's going to initially run Hauptwerk, and then, when I get some more space, it'll be hooked up to my ranks of pipes. I've got a couple of old two manual 'stacks', but they don't match - some keys are slightly wider etc.
I'm looking for either a four manual stack, or two two manual stacks that I can use together that match. I know I can buy brand new from places like midiworks, but I can't afford the 4k asking price :)

I'll need shipping to New Zealand as well.

Cheers all :)

I'm a bit of an organ fanatic. Not a lot of talent, but a lot of enthusiasm.

I was lucky to hear of a small organ on offer here in New Zealand that I have managed to pick up and install in my garage. It is a temporary home for the organ until I purchase a new house sometime in the next year or so.
I'm very lucky in that my fiancee disapproves so heartily of the organ she has given me permission to build my own organ 'room' when we get a new place. We'll be paying that off for ages, but I won't say no!

Anyway, my organ is an eight rank extension organ.
Two manuals plus pedals.
- SubBass 16 (Extended from Bourdon 8)
- Bourdon 8
- Open Diapason 8
- Gambe 8 (bottom octave pinched from Bourdon)
- Violetta 4
- Principal 4 (independent from diapason)
- Flute 4
- Piccolo 2
- Faggotto 16 (extended from Oboe)
- Oboe 8

There is also a 2 2/3 Nazard which is nicked from the Piccolo, but it sounds pants, so I don't tend to use it.

My plans for this organ are to design a new method of patching the wires from the solenoids to the console (I'm a computer engineer by trade, so communications and wiring is second nature), design a new facade for the new house, and replace the console with something that has 'proper' stops, instead of tabs. I might even slowly make my own.

Here are some pictures.
I can't seem to upload images, so here are some links to my photos on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150651618305433&l=b3f8d43a2e
Delivery Day!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150651618375433&l=cb590ce338
Swell Chest

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150651618500433&l=dcc3e4cb24
Great Chest

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150653132645433&l=7674fe3150
Flute, Principal and Piccolo on swell chest. Gambe and Open Diapason visible in background

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150653132700433&l=5f1d1936a1
Gambe, Violetta and Open Diapason on the Great wind chest

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150653132735433&l=e912ae6fb1
Bourdon, Flute, Principal and Piccolo on the Swell Chest. The Oboe and Fagotto haven't arrived yet

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150653132790433&l=4cff76169d
Pipes minus the reeds

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150654132250433&l=7b1ec10b09
The Console

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150675954740433&l=e51785db9e
Woeful wiring.